John Singer Sargent

Painter of glamorous portraits and sparkling landscapes. Sargent was born in Florence, Italy, the son of a Philadelphia surgeon who had retired to Europe. From 1870 to 1873 he attended classes at the Accademia delle Belle Arti in Florence and in 1874 entered the Paris atelier of Charles-Emile-Auguste Carolus-Duran. From 1877 he exhibited regularly at the Paris Salon. His reputation as a portraitist of daring originality reached a crisis point in 1884 when his portrait of Virginia Gautreau (Madame X) scandalized fashionable Paris and lost him numerous commissions. When his Paris career foundered, his friend Henry James encouraged him to settle in London, which he did in 1886. The technical brilliance of his paint handling, the inventiveness of his compositions, and his insight into personal character brought him several triumphs at the Royal Academy during the 1890s. He was elected an Associate in 1894 and a full Academician in 1897. He continued to live and work largely in England until his death.

[Great British Paintings Label Text]